Folio. Original color pictorial boards with a design by Henri Matisse; dust jacket (some minor toning, 1 in. closed tear at spine tail).

FIRST AMERICAN EDITION. Called "one of the greatest photography books ever published," The Decisive Moment comprises photographs from the first twenty years of Cartier-Bresson's career. A collaborative effort between Cartier-Bresson, artist Henri Matisse, and art critic and publisher Tériade, the book is credited with introducing the term "decisive moment" as a sort of trademark for Cartier-Bresson's work, despite the original title for the work being Images à la Sauvette (Images on the Run). Of his process Cartier-Bresson wrote, "In a photograph, composition is the result of a simultaneous coalition, the organic coordination of elements seen by the eye. One does not add composition as though it were an afterthought superimposed on the basic subject material, since it is impossible to separate content from form." A VERY BRIGHT COPY.